Mercedes Benz

By Francisco Merayo

Mercedes Benz is a well-known automotive company with headquarters in Stuttgart. Last week we visited the museum. The museum is a not very tall building that changed the shape while going up. It was covered with black glass, which gave it a nice contrast with the aluminum that was around the windows.

After went inside the museum and went through security we took an elevator that took us to the eighth floor and the guide started his job. He told us about the first engines Karl Benz designed first and the imperfections that they had. Later on we walked next to the first models produced and we could see the change with a timeline made with cars.

The second big room was about the classic luxury cars. These cars were huge and designed to be in the back seat instead of driving. In this room we saw the progression into the three points star. For the brand the detail is important not only because the importance of a symbol like the Mercedes star also because now we all can identify the brand with the symbol.

The next two rooms were focused on the after WWII designs and the progression of the brand in the first half of the twentieth century. The following room showed sports cars. They have a 1954 300 SL which is one of the more famous cars if we focus on the history of the brand. The 300 SL had a very special look, I like this car because many reasons but one of the most important ones is the leather color. Red is not a very good color for the interior of a car, but the exterior design I don’t know why made the leather looks in perfect balance and harmony. It was the first time I saw one in real life in my life and the experience to see something so pretty that have survived so many years and still looking like brand new talks very good about Mercedes Benz.

Another interesting room was the competition room. Mercedes Benz won two years in a row the World Formula One Championship with Fangio as the driver. But after some fatal accidents the brand wanted to stop relating themselves with dead people for the racing. They showed the silver arrows in a timeline that looks like a circuit. We were told about how Mercedes Benz formula one team ended up with a silver car and was a very interesting story and a very sharp way to avoid the weight problem by taking the car paint away.

In general the museum told the story of a company that through the years knew how to do well. I am sure that in the future the company will get bigger and we will be able to enjoy their fantastic cars. We saw a room about electric cars a hybrids, that is the future of the automotive industry.  That’s why this museum was good because we saw how the industry started how they developed the present of the brand and a little part of the future.